The present invention relates to a door structure for an automatic vending machine which has an item sample display unit.
A conventional automatic vending machine having an item sample display unit installed in a door is shown in FIG. 1. In FIG. 1, a large door 40 is installed on the front surface of automatic vending machine 45, a middle door 41 is installed inside the large door 40 so that it may open and close by rotating around the center of supporting axis, an item sample 6 in the form substantially same as items to be sold and an advertisement 8 are provided on the middle door 41, and a transparent front panel 42 is installed in the large door 40 facing with the item sample 6. For this arrangement, it is necessary to open the large door 40 and then open the middle door 41 in a direction of the arrow in order to exchange the item sample 6 and to clean the inside of the front panel. In case that a wall exists in a left side of the automatic vending machine, the above exchanging and cleaning operations are difficult because both of the large door 40 and the middle door 41 can not be sufficiently open.
The middle door 41 is connected to the large door 40 only by the supporting axis, and therefore the, strength of the middle door 41 and the large door 40 is weak where the middle door 41 is open. Further, the structure of the large door 40 is complicated, and as the number of parts for construction of the door 40 is large the cost of the machine is large.
An item sample display unit 43 installed in the middle door 41 is composed of a plurality of item sample display stands (shelves) 44 which are vertically installed and a fluorescent lamp 7 illuminating the item sample 6 from the upper and lower directions. In one embodiment, the fluorescent lamp 7 is installed inside each of the item sample display stands 44. Another fluorescent lamp 7 is installed on the back surface of the large door 40 in order to illuminate the item sample 6 and the whole of the item sample display unit 43. As a result, connection of the middle door 41 to the large door 40 is unstable because the number of the parts is large and the weight thereof is heavy. Further, power consumption is also large.
As described above, according to the door structure of conventional automatic vending machines, in case that maintenance operation of the item sample display unit 43 is carried out in a place to be installed, maintenance operation has to be implemented by opening the large door 40 and the middle door 41 provided in the back side of the large door 40. Therefore, the operation is troublesome because much time and labor are required to adjust the opening degree of the doors 40, 41 and to set it. Further, because the structure of the large door 40 is complicated, the number of the parts becomes more and the costs thereof are more, improvement has been desired. Also, it has been desired to make the illumination more efficient and to reduce the power consumption and the number of lamps with respect to the fluorescent lamps 7 for illuminating the item sample 6 and the inside of the item sample display unit 43.
An object of the invention is to provide a door for automatic vending machine having an item sample display unit of which structure is improved.
The object of the invention can be attained by a door for automatic vending machine according to the first invention comprising a display unit for displaying item samples which is a first door unit capable of opening and closing and installed in a front surface of the automatic vending machine.
In the door for automatic vending machine according to the second invention, said door unit and said display unit are made from an iron plate.
In the door for automatic vending machine according the third invention, said door unit and said display unit are made from a plastic resin.
In the door for automatic vending machine according to the fourth invention, said door unit and said display unit are arranged so that the display unit is concave to the front surface of the door unit.
In the door for automatic vending machine according to the fifth invention, said display unit includes the space of the advertisement.
In the door for automatic vending machine according to the sixth invention, said display unit is covered with a transparent second door unit capable of opening and closing.
In the door for automatic vending machine of the first invention to the sixth invention, the display unit is formed with a part of the outside of the first door. As a result, where the maintenance operation is carried out inside the display unit, it can be done by opening only the second door and hence its efficiency is increased. Unlike conventional door structure, since the first door and the display unit are a single molding, they are strengthened, the items are hardly robbed from the automatic vending machine, and the structure of the door can be simplified. Further, the inside structure of the display unit becomes simple, looks better and is easily cleaned.
In the door for automatic vending machine according to the seventh invention, said item samples are arranged in a plurality of rows in said display unit, so that the item samples in the center row or near the center row are curved toward the back surface of the door unit and so that the item samples in the row higher than those in or near the center row are declined downward and the item samples in the row lower than those in or near the center row are declined upward, and an illumination lamp is installed in an upper portion of the item samples in the uppermost row and in a lower portion of the item samples in the lowermost, respectively.
In the door for automatic vending machine according to the eighth invention, said item samples are arranged in a plurality of rows in said display unit, so that the item samples in the center portion or near the center portion are curved toward the back surface of the door unit and so that the item samples in the left side of the center portion are declined to the right and the item samples in the right side of the center portion are declined to the left, and an illumination lamp is installed in the left side of the item samples in the most left side and in the right side of the item samples in the most right side, respectively.
According to the door for automatic vending machine of the seventh invention to the ninth invention, in addition to the effects of the first invention, the number of the illumination lamps can be reduced and the power consumption can be reduced not by installing the lamps in a plurality of rows displaying the item samples but by installing the lamps in only two palaces, i.e. in the upper and lower portions of the item samples. As a result, light is uniformly exposed from the illumination lamps to each of the item samples.
In the door for automatic vending machine according to the ninth invention, a concave in a groove form or a convex in a bank form representing concrete or abstract objects is one molding on the surface of said first door unit. According to the ninth invention, in addition to the effects of the first invention, a part of the surface on the large door is made to the concave in the groove form or to the convex in the bank form by one molding. By the three-dimensional shape of the concrete or abstract objects, customer collecting effects are increased and plain surface of the large door is strengthened.
In the door for automatic vending machine according to the tenth invention, a concave or a convex representing concrete or abstract objects is one molding on the surface of the space of the advertisement. According to the tenth invention, in addition to the effects of the first invention, a part of the surface on the display unit is made to the concave in the groove form or to the convex in the bank form by one molding. By the three-dimensional shape of the concrete or abstract objects, customer collecting effects are increased and plain surface of the space of the advertisement for the item samples display is strengthened.